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Hot Topics Workshop
Hot Topics: Black Holes in Relativity
Sep 14, 2009 to Sep 18, 2009

Organizer(s)

Mihalis Dafermos (University of Cambridge) and Igor Rodnianski* (Princeton)
To apply for funding, you must register by Wed, Jul 01 2009.
The mathematical study of the dynamics of the Einstein equations forms a central part of both partial differential equations and geometry, and is intimately related to our current physical understanding of gravitational collapse. The celebrated singularity theorems of Penrose, proven in the 1960s, showed that geodesic incompleteness is inevitable provided that initial data contain what is known as a closed trapped surface. Trapped surfaces are also related to the presence of black holes. A breakthrough into the understanding of trapped surface formation has recently been achieved by Christodoulou in his 600 page monograph: "The formation of black holes in General Relativity", Publications of the EMS, January 2009, where it is shown that trapped surfaces form in evolution for the Einstein vacuum equations from completely dispersed initial confgurations, a phenomenon caused purely by the focussing of gravitational waves. The proof brings together ideas from geometric analysis and non-linear hyperbolic equations and at the same time introduces new techniques adapted to large data problems. The methods will undoubtedly have many future applications in both general relativity and other equations of mathematical physics. Inparticular, the work provides the first global "large data" result in general relativity (without symmetry assumptions) and opens the possibility for many new developments on dynamical problems relating to black holes.

Accomodations:

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Rose Garden Inn. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on Corporate at the bottom of the screen and when prompted enter code MATH (this code is not case sensitive). By using this code a new calendar will appear and will show MSRI rate on all room types available.
The cut-off date for reservations is August 31, 2009.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Durant. Please mention the workshop name and reference the following code when making reservations via phone, fax or e-mail: BLACKHOLESMSRI. The cut-off date for reservations is August 13, 2009.

We also hold a block of rooms at the Doubletree Hotel. Please mention the MSRI as a reference when making reservations by calling 510-548-7920 OR directly on their website. The Doubletree Hotel offers complementary shuttle to and from MSRI. The room rate is $99 per night.

New, completely renovated Hotel Shattuck Plaza has rooms available for you as well!
Click here to book online
Or, you can make reservations calling the main line, 510-845-7300, and asking for the rate for Hot Topics: Black Holes in Relativity. The room rate is $119 per night plus tax.

Funding

To apply for funding, you must register by Wed, Jul 01 2009. Click to Register
Students, recent Ph.D.'s, women, and members of underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Funding awards are made typically 6 weeks before the workshop begins. Requests received after the funding deadline are considered only if additional funds become available.
Schedule
Monday, September 14, 2009
10:00AM - 11:00AM Mihalis Dafermos An introduction to the problem of evolution in general relativity [Video available]
11:30AM - 12:30PM Demetrios Christodoulou Formation of black holes [Video available]
2:00PM - 3:00PM Alan Rendall The characteristic initial value problem in General Relativity [Video available]
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
10:00AM - 11:00AM Demetrios Christodoulou Formation of black holes [Video available]
11:30AM - 12:30PM Greg Galloway Aspects of marginally trapped surfaces in 2+1 and higher dimensional gravity [Video available]
2:00PM - 3:00PM James Isenberg Constraint equations of General Relativity [Video available]
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
10:00AM - 11:00AM Demetrios Christodoulou Formation of black holes [Video available]
11:30AM - 12:30PM Spyridon Alexakis On black holes uniqueness [Video available]
2:00PM - 3:00PM Demetrios Christodoulou Formation of black holes [Video available]
3:00PM - 4:00PM Robert Bartnik, Robert Bartnik ADM revisited
Thursday, September 17, 2009
10:00AM - 11:00AM Demetrios Christodoulou Formation of black holes [Video available]
11:30AM - 12:30PM Mihalis Dafermos The black hole stability problem [Video available]
2:00PM - 3:00PM Pieter Blue Hidden symmetries and decay for the wave equation in Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes [Video available]
2:30PM - 3:00PM Gustav Holzegel The massive wave equation on Kerr-AdS spacetimes [Video available]
3:30PM - 4:00PM Mihai Tohaneanu The Klein-Gordon equation on asymptotically de Sitter spaces [Video available]
4:00PM - 4:30PM Dean Baskin The Klein-Gordon equation on asymptotically de Sitter spaces [Video available]
Friday, September 18, 2009
10:00AM - 11:00AM Igor Rodnianski On the short pulse method and its applications [Video available]
11:30AM - 12:30PM Maciej Zworski Quasinormal modes (resonances) for black holes [Video available]
2:00PM - 3:00PM Mu-Tao Wang Quasi-local mass [Video available]


Questions about this workshop should be sent either by email to
or by regular mail to:
Hot Topics: Black Holes in Relativity
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
17 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA
94720-5070.
USA

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